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Big East Basketball: St. John’s vs. Butler preview, prediction, TV schedule

By Carmine Carcieri

Dec 29, 2016; Queens, NY, USA; St. John's Red Storm celebrates the win against the Butler Bulldogs at Carnesecca Arena. St. John's Red Storm won 76-73. Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 29, 2016; Queens, NY, USA; St. John's Red Storm celebrates the win against the Butler Bulldogs at Carnesecca Arena. St. John's Red Storm won 76-73. Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports /
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Butler will look to right the ship while the Red Storm are trying to follow up their Big East basketball win over Seton Hall with another upset.

TV Schedule: Wednesday, Feb. 15, 8:30 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1

Arena: Hinkle Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, Indiana

Prediction: Butler 77 St. John’s 70

The Butler Bulldogs have beaten Arizona, Cincinnati, Northwestern, Utah (on the road), Indiana (when they were ranked 9th in the country) and gave Villanova one of their two losses so far this season.

Related Story: Previewing Creighton versus Seton Hall

But lately, the Bulldogs are on a massive downward trend. They dropped from the top 15 to No. 24 overall in the latest AP poll and have lost three out of their last four, including match-ups to Providence, Creighton, and Georgetown. On top of that, their leading scorer, Kelan Martin, is in a massive funk that has resulted in him coming off the bench.

Chris Holtmann’s team will try to rebound from their funk, and improve their fourth place standing in the Big East, by getting revenge against the St. John’s Red Storm.

The Johnnies defeated the Bulldogs back in late December at Carnesecca Arena, and St. John’s has only improved since. Chris Mullin’s roster is on an upward trend as the team, who won just a single conference game in 2015-16 and eight games overall, sits in fifth place (!) in the Big East.

With Marcus LoVett and Shamorie Ponds in the backcourt, Bashir Ahmed on the wing and Tariq Owens in the paint, the Red Storm are playing much-improved team basketball. They thoroughly dominated two potential NCAA Tournament teams in Marquette and Seton Hall and have won two hard-fought road games in league play against DePaul and Providence.

Next: The projected bracket and the month that remains

But Wednesday is a different task. Regardless of how both teams are trending, this is a showdown at the historic Hinkle Fieldhouse, a crazed atmosphere that may bring out the flaws in this young St. John’s team. I think the Red Storm will keep it relatively close but expect Martin to break out of his slump and have a big game to lead Butler to their 20th win of the season.